Diego Maradona vs Per Mertesacker: Stats Compared
Forward / Playmaker, Argentina (born 1960, retired 1997) · Centre-Back, Germany (born 1984, retired 2018)
Set Diego Maradona alongside Per Mertesacker and the numbers start an argument of their own. Long after the final whistle, what lingers is influence, and each man reshaped his corner of the game. Career output puts Diego Maradona at 293 goals in 582 games, with Per Mertesacker at 15 in 550. Assists were not reliably tracked for much of their careers, which makes the playmaking comparison an imperfect one; where records exist, Diego Maradona is credited with 0 and Per Mertesacker with 5. Trophy counts give Diego Maradona 6 and Per Mertesacker 4, with 1× FIFA World Cup (1986) and 1× FIFA World Cup (2014) the standout honours respectively. Their legacies diverge in texture: Diego Maradona is remembered as mercurial, Per Mertesacker as uncompromising. Their routes to the top were distinct: Diego Maradona built his reputation across Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla, Newell's Old Boys, peaking around 1986, while Per Mertesacker reached his defining level around 2014 after spells with Hannover 96, Werder Bremen, Arsenal. Few pairings invite such entrenched disagreement, and fewer still deserve it this much.
180 words · comparison angle: legacy
Player profiles
Argentine legend who almost single-handedly led Argentina to the 1986 World Cup and transformed Napoli into Italian and European contenders.
“A low-centre-of-gravity left-footed genius whose dribbling and playmaking carried teams single-handedly.”
A towering, calm German centre-back nicknamed 'BFG' by Arsenal fans, Mertesacker started every match of Germany's triumphant 2014 World Cup campaign.
“A commanding, positionally intelligent centre-back whose reading of the game compensated for a lack of raw pace.”
Head-to-head stats
Career goals by season
Representative career seasons — goals per season for each player across their documented clubs.
Attribute radar
Attribute ratings are peak-era, 0–100. Different positions naturally skew the profile.
Attribute comparison
Trophy breakdown
- 1× FIFA World Cup (1986)
- 1× UEFA Cup (1989)
- 2× Serie A (1987, 1990)
- 1× Copa Italia (1987)
- 1× Argentine Primera División (1981)
- 1× FIFA World Cup (2014)
- 3× FA Cup (2014, 2015, 2017)
Trophy distribution
Career milestones
- 1976 Argentinos Juniors debut ten days before his 16th birthday
- 1981 Joined Boca Juniors and won the Argentine league
- 1982 World-record transfer to Barcelona
- 1984 Signed for Napoli for another world-record fee
- 1987 Led Napoli to their first ever Serie A title
- 1990 Captained Argentina to a second consecutive World Cup final
- 1997 Played his final professional matches at Boca Juniors
- 2001 Professional debut for Hannover 96
- 2014 Won FIFA World Cup with Arsenal
- 2014 Won FA Cup with Arsenal
- 2014 Reached the peak of his powers at Arsenal
- 2018 Retired after a final spell at Arsenal
- Finished his career with 15 goals in 550 appearances and 4 major honours. Finished his career with 15 goals in 550 appearances and 4 major honours.
The verdict
Reasonable people will disagree, but Diego Maradona wins out by a decisive margin on the weight of a sharper goalscoring record.
Diego Maradona edges it (a decisive margin)
